Every Wednesday throughout January, the PE and Wellness Departments partnered together to create lessons for students during their PE period. Spearheaded by Ms. Janae Dockins, Mr. Matt Digney, and Ms. Tracy Savoca, Wellness Wednesdays focused on improving the mental and physical health of students.
“Wellness Wednesdays is kind of like a new year, new me, reset, and refresh,” Dockins said when describing the theme of the four-week program.
Week one of Wellness Wednesdays had students write their 2026 goal on a red slip of paper – resembling a brick – and display them on the wall, simulating “goal-building.” The second lesson presented the app Yuka, which rates foods based on their nutritional values, and provided healthy snacks for students to try, demonstrating the importance of nutrition. Lesson three introduced mindful breathing habits and yoga exercises, and the final Wellness Wednesday lesson recapped the previous three.
The lessons’ goals were to focus on students’ health and teach students mindful activities to balance their habits. The departments chose January to host Wellness Wednesdays because the exercises simulated New Year’s resolutions.
“The goal was to expose students to several different areas of wellness, whether it be physical, mental, emotional, social,” Digney said, “and try to give short lessons and little hands-on type experiences so students can maybe take that with them.”
Dockins explained that the inspiration for the Wednesday lessons stemmed from wellness events held at Lenape High School. The departments then narrowed the list down to the four most important lessons they believed should be taught at CHS.
The Wellness Department’s “Smash the Stigma” event in October, where students wrote down their stressors on pumpkins and smashed them, catapulted Wellness Wednesdays into fruition. The positive student reception showed the departments that students are interested in improving their mental and physical health. This was evident in the response to the healthy eating lesson that introduced the app Yuka.
“I have lunch duty, and kids during lunch were snapping their food and trying it, which was pretty cool to see,” Savoca said about students’ use of the Yuka app.
Junior Sophia Martelli said her favorite Wellness Wednesday lesson was mindful yoga. She detailed the benefits of learning about mental health and how it’s important to know that everyone’s feelings are valid.
“I feel like it really helps. It kind of, I guess, persuades or helps you talk about your issues, or not even just issues, but, you know, your mental being, and, like, it’s okay to feel,” Martelli said, “and we should be able to know that. I think many people, you know, hide their feelings or they don’t do what they want to do. Like, you know, do what you want to do.”
Similar events are making headway at CHS, including Mrs. Leetz’s and Dockins’ February “Conversation Carts & Conversation Hearts” last month, which involved students reflecting and connecting over various conversations presented by Dockins. This month, the Wellness Department plans to host a de-stress lesson during the high-stress testing month.
With the two departments’ hard work and dedication to promoting healthy habits and teaching important values of mindfulness, students’ responses have been heartening. Digney noted that Wellness Wednesdays will likely return for the ’26-’27 school year.
“We were super excited to do it. We enjoyed our time, as well, doing it, and I think there’ll probably be a Wellness Wednesday in January of 2027,” Digney said.
